The Power of the Nexus

The Nexus. That fabled device that runs Google's newest Android OS. In it's stock form. The phone that is supposed to set the tone for all phones coming in the near future. And it is an important phone indeed.

First introduced in 2009 with the HTC Nexus One three generations of Nexii have been released to stronger support with each iteration, the latest of which, the Galaxy Nexus, has been not only a success among developers but with consumers too. Being awarded the contract to design the next Nexus is a prestigious honour and often reflects the state of the Android market at the time of it's release (noticeably that HTC was awarded the first Nexus due to it's strong start and Samsung has been awarded the subsequent two). However, with the latest Nexus, I feel Google has passed up an opportunity to weild the power of the Nexus in the face of the OEM's and has allowed the name of the Nexus to become diluted.

Last week a report claimed that Samsung was the forerunner in the bid to design the 4th generation Nexus device. While I agree that with the present state of the market Samsung rightfully deserves the next Nexus,
doing so would anger the other OEM's and perhaps cause discontent in manufacturers who are already looking at alternatives. They would rightfully (in my eyes) claim that Samsung is being given preferential treatment and taking over the Nexus as one of it's own. For instance, the 3rd generation Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus, places the emphasis on Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones rather than Google's Nexus line. If Google was in the drivers seat over making the decision they should have insisted the phone be called the Nexus Galaxy (as stupid as it may sound). If the point of equality of OEM's is to stand Google can not give Samsung a semi-exclusivity over the Nexii simply because it is the leading Android manufacturer.

What Google should remember is that the point of a Nexus phone is the Software, not the Hardware. Google can use the Nexus to tackle arguably Android's biggest problem, fragmentation. Google should use the Nexus as a sort of cattle prod awarding the contract to the company who, along with providing excellent hardware (which all the major OEM's barring LG do), provides timely software updates and are regular in honouring commitments to smartphone buyers. The Nexus allows the chosen manufacturer extra time with Google's latest offering before competitors get their hands on it, a big advantage that neither have taken so far. Google releases a new Nexus every winter. Assuming it takes a manufacturer 6 months to design and manufacture a phone from scratch Google could award the newest Nexus to the manufacturer who is most regular in issuing software updates and promoting Google's OS. This means for the first 6 months of the year, right when a new update has been releases you'll have OEM's rushing to appease Google by actually issuing updates.

 

If we look at today's market, where 5 months from the release only 4.9% of devices run Ice Cream Sandwich, we can see just how much of a problem timely software updates are and truly understand the power of the Nexus in helping end fragmentation. Hopefully Google sees that power too.